Rupinder Brar, ADG, MOT, has said that in the first week of October, we will be taking a domestic FAM tour on the Buddhist train from Delhi to Bodhgaya, Nalanda, Rajgir and Varanasi and then coming back to Delhi. “The idea is to showcase the IRCTC Buddhist train as a product and these destinations as important part of the Buddhist circuit and beyond. Hon. Minister will also be present in the Varanasi leg of the journey,” she updated.

Alison Cryer, Founder & MD, Representation Plus, has said that the industry needs to innovate and come up with new experiences to meet the new needs. “The modern global traveller is much more conscious than before,” she added while speaking at the PATA India webinar recently. She also advised that regular communication from the industry as well as the tourism boards is expected by UK tour operators when it comes to destination India.

Oyo Hotels have filed for a local listing, seeking a valuation of $10 billion to $12 billion that could be the first for a hospitality firm since 2019. The initial public offering (IPO) comes as travel restrictions are being alleviated worldwide and the tourism sector sees a rebound, with stuck-at-home people heading out on vacations. The offering will consist of a fresh issue of shares of up to 70 billion rupees and an offer for sale of as much as 14.30 billion rupees, as per a copy of its draft red herring.

French hospitality major Accor is launching a full-service 120-room Novotel property in Chandigarh, with an outdoor plunge pool, a gymnasium and multiple meeting, wedding venues, that marks addition of 21st Novotel in India. “India presents substantial opportunities to grow our midscale brands. We believe that Novotel will be an ideal brand for the Chandigarh market as it caters to both corporate and leisure travellers. We are excited to enter a new market which further bolsters our position in North Indi,” said Puneet Dhawan, Senior Vice President of Operations, India and South Asia, Accor.

Inclusive tourism must be the way forward, especially after COVID. Currently, tourism only benefits a very small marginal section of the society and the community in large is totally left out. It’s not just for COVID times, but for other times as well, there should be an inclusive approach, starting from the government, and I am sure it will have sustainability. For inclusive tourism, it’s the people of the land who should be stakeholders in the activity of tourism, and not remain just menial employees. In fact, whenever a new destination is being developed, it would be the ideal space to work on this, in the right earnest. Also, if all hotels localise their purchase, it would help the local economy. Hotels can do partnership with the local communities or help the local government where there could be activities to support.

I would like to see more community-based tourism, for it to become a central feature, with its rich cultural, historic and tribal heritages. This can only be done by catalysing local communities/villages to bring together their key assets and own them – to ensure they are not exploited – so ensure that visitors can become a force for good in their lives. Tour operators can also contribute to building and developing sustainable tourism. They play a critical role in informing clients, in highlighting places, working with destinations and indirectly influence clients to make better, more informed decisions. This will ensure client are satisfied and the local destination will be the primary beneficiary.

I believe that India is already late but thanks to corona, the travel and tourism fraternity is now talking about inclusive tourism. Tourism without benefits to the local communities is not fair tourism but exploitative tourism. While the world can talk about sustainable tourism or eco-tourism, India has a privilege of talking about regenerative tourism because we had it implanted in our community and day-to-day life, but we lost it. Hence, we need to regenerate and go back to where we were. INDeco Hotels established rural tourism way back in the 90s and we saw development. For Indian villages, rural tourism is a magic wand that can resolve many of development issues. I strongly believe that it should be taken seriously and see what we can do to make it effective nationwide.

It’s good thing that UNWTO has recognised inclusiveness as the theme. For a country like India, we are looking at tourism and hospitality providing a huge amount of employment opportunities across the socio-economic spectrum. It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to work with a strategic focus on creating inclusiveness in our sector because in India the experiential possibilities, in terms of magnitude and offerings, are immense. This provide us an amazing opportunity to work at the grassroot level to ensure community involvement and to make sure that there are many benefits that can flow back to society, at large through inclusive tourism.

One must consider local needs when it comes to tourism. In responsible or inclusive tourism, local people try to come out and enhance their skills to suit the needs of 5-star properties in the area. In Kumarakom, Kerala for example, local self-help groups by ladies prepare fish and supply vegetables, linen, drinking water and coconut water to 5-star hotels. There are around seven 5-star hotels and over 200 hotels in Kumarakom and the supply chain management has been taken over by the local population. Local institutions and state governments have given this training to them. Hence, I insist that state governments should actively get involved into developing responsible tourism. Need-based tourism and skill development is essential.

I am proud that our state has taken the lead in agri-tourism. The concept of 30% Krishi Yojana proposed by the Agriculture Minister Dadasaheb Bhuse for women farmers is highly commendable. More than 60% of the country’s population engages in agriculture and it is crucial to link agriculture to tourism. Agri-tourism is instrumental for employment generation and economic improvement especially in these pandemic times when people have lost jobs. Agri-tourism has given us the opportunity to bring together the two major sectors: tourism and agriculture. The current pandemic offers an opportunity to grow agri-tourism in India. One of the safest ways to enjoy travel right now is to visit rural areas, experience rural life and enjoy clean environment.